UMD picks Eau Claire’s Nielson as grid coach
If Bob Nielson has his way, the UMD football team will open up its offense, running the option and passing at least half the time. And Nielson WILL have his way, after accepting the challenge to become UMD’s new head football coach Monday night.
UMD’s search for a new football coach was long, consuming over two months, and thorough throughout the interview process, but the attention to detail apparently paid off with Nielson, who will leave the job at Wisconsin-Eau Claire after being the virtually unanimous top pick among the selection committee’s five tightly-bunched finalists.
Nielson, 39, was introduced at an on-campus press conference at the Hall of Fame room in the UMD physical education complex, which is about a long touchdown-bomb pass from the football field, where he coached Division III Wisconsin-Eau Claire to a 28-14 victory over the Division II Bulldogs last fall. After guiding the Blugolds to a 10-3 record and advancing to the NCAA Division III playoff semifinals, Nielson said that visit to Duluth last fall figured in his decision.
“I left here impressed with the enviroment, and the facilities, and I realized this would be a great place to be, in terms of both the university and the football program,” Nielson said. “It’s a great challenge, which brings a great opportunity for me to coach scholarship-level student-athletes.”
Nielson replaces Jim Malosky, who retired after sitting out last season while recovering from a mild stroke. Because Malosky was at the helm for 40 years, Nielson is only the fourth coach in the 66-year history of the program, but he stressed that the opportunity offers him his three main factors — tradition, commitment and vision.
“I am humbled to follow a man who not only won so many football games, but had such an effect on so many young people who he’s coached,” said Nielson. “There’s no program i this country taht better typifies tradition than this one.
“I think everyone from [athletic director] Bob Corran to the chancellor to the staff has instilled great vision here, and I’m very excited to be part of it. As for the commitment, I am committed to build on the great tradition and to be part of tis community and this university.”
UMD’s consistently successful program was monitored by assistant co-coaches Jim Malosky Jr. and Vince Repesh, the offensive and defensive coordinators under Jim Malosky Sr. Nielson said he has met with several of the assistants and would meet with them further to discuss the staff assignments.
He said his prefered style is to have multiple sets, with one set back or possibly two, and “we threw the ball an average of 30 times a game,” he said.
Jim Malosky Sr. said he was impressed with everything about Nielson. Jim Malosky Jr. said he was excited about working under Nielson, who favored the rollout quarterback option style last season.
Nielson was born in Marion, Iowa, and played offensive lineman for the Linn-Mar high school team in suburban Cedar Rapids. After attending Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, where he had a 4.0 grade-point-average,and getting his Master’s at Northern Iowa, Nielson began an impressive coaching career during which he has turned several programs swiftly into winning teams. He started at Ripon (Wis.) College on a team that went 2-6-1 his first year, then 7-2 in his second and final season.
From Ripon, Nielson went back to his alma mater as an assistant at Wartburg for eight years — six as offensive line coach and two as defensive coordinator. Then he became Wartburg’s head coach and athletic director, where his teams had five straight winning seasons, including the 1993 Iowa Conference title and back-to-back NCAA Division III playoff appearances in 1993 and 1994.
At Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Nielson’s first team was 5-5, his second was 7-3, and last season he brought the Blugolds to an 8-2 overall record for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title for the first time in 15 years, and they won two playoff games before losing in the national semifinals. Nielson was awarded the Football Gazette’s Division III coach of the year honor for last season.
UMD plays in the Northern Sun Conference, which is Division II and allows a maximum of 21 scholarships in football. There has been some examination of potential for someday moving up to the level of the North Central Conference, which allows 36 football scholarships.
“My intention is to have the best NCAA Division II program we can possibly have,” said Nielson. “If the university decides to take the course in moving to a higher level, we’ll be ready to accept that challenge.”
Nielson and his wife, Terri, have three children — daughter Amanda, 14, and twins Kyle and Kasey, 3. Asked about the emotions of leaving behind a program he had just built, Nielson acknowledged that was tough. “But this felt like the right decision for me,” he said. “From the perspective of coaching and personally, I thought this would be a place I’d like to put down roots.
“One thing the fans are used to here is winning football, that’s a common grain. The structure of our offense and the structure of our defense might change slightly, but I intend to continue to build on the things that have taken this program to great heights.”
Will Wild back up hyperbole with GM choice?
The Minnesota Wild will enter the National Hockey League in the fall of 2000, which puts the franchise in the unique position of promoting a team that really doesn’t have anything to promote. Bill Robertson, the clever man who directs communications for the Wild, put it best when he said: “We don’t lose a game for 17 more months.”
Great line. The team doesn’t drop a puck in its new St. Paul arena
for 17 more months, so why not capitalize on its ongoing “unbeaten”
streak?
Robertson, who grew up in Minnesota and is one of us, was the
Minnesota Timberwolves communications director for the first five
years of their existence, then he took on the same role to help launch
the Anaheim Mighty Ducks NHL franchise, and now comes home to put to use his experience guiding new pro sports franchises in Minnesota.
The Wild came to Duluth last week, with Jac Sperling, the club’s chief
executive officer, and Robertson leading the charge. Sperling is trying to also pick a general manager and coach; actually, only a general manager because the new GM will pick the coach. The day before the Wild came to Duluth, I asked him what he planned to say to the folks in Duluth. “Whatever they want to hear,” Sperling said. “I mean, we’ll talk about whatever they want to talk about.”
It was a delectable slip, because at this point, Sperling can only try to tell hockey folks around the state what they want to hear. Good cheer, good stuff, positive, and maybe you want to buy a season ticket. As for a general manager?
“From the standpoint of being a good judge of hockey talent,
understanding the dealings with player agents and the collective
bargaining rules, the ability to negotiate and deal with other general
managers, working with the media, and being a good team player,
all are important factors in our selection,” Sperling said.
“It’s also important for us to get someone who has acceptance in the
community. Our intention is to find the best person for the job, to get
us to where we need to be both in business and in hockey. I think it
is important that we pick someone for general manager who is
either an existing general manager or assistant general manager in
the league right now.”
There is the key phrase, because Sperling can choose any parameters he chooses in order to narrow the search to the man he wants. I believe Sperling has selected his general manager, but simply hasn’t worked out the details yet. Before the general manager and coach are named, however, let’s go back to that line about what the people in Minnesota “want to hear.”
Minnesota sports fans have been accused of being fickle, demanding a winner. That’s true in football, baseball and basketball, where pro fans might not care a whit about college, high school or youth levels of those sports. In hockey, the incredible network of grassroots support means fans watch and cheer for Derek Plante, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jeff Nielsen, Craig Johnson, Lance Pitlick, Darby Hendrickson, Brian Bonin and countless others since they were 11 or 12, playing Peewee hockey, to high school and college.
There are true, diehard hockey fans in Minnesota and there are front-runners. Their ticket money counts the same, and it’s up to the Wild to discern which side they want to attract more. True hockey fans are much more appreciative of honest effort, because they know it can be satisfying on its own, and probably will lead to winning as a byproduct.
The true fans would most like to hear the name Herb Brooks as coach and director of player personnel of the Wild. If it were my choice, I would also name Neil Sheehy general manager. Period.
That would be a bold, new combination that would generate 100 percent pure support. The traditional new-franchise “honeymoon period” would last indefinitely.
Brooks, of course, is Minnesota’s No. 1 icon in hockey. He coached the University of Minnesota to three NCAA titles — the Gophers ONLY three titles — in a six-year span of the ’70s, then he gathered up a batch of college guys and won the 1980 Olympic gold medal for the U.S., against Russian, Swedish, Finnish and Czech teams loaded with players who later would change the face of NHL hockey. As a brief aside, did you notice the World Tournament, which ended last week, and how France failed to win even one game? You recall Brooks’ last coaching assignment was with the French national and Olympic team. Under Brooks, with virtually the same players as on this current winless team, France upset the U.S. in the World Tournament.
Brooks is simply the most clever, creative tactical wizard in the
game, and it is a sad testimony to the sport of hockey that the most brilliant tactician in the game is NOT coaching. Much of the reason is that the progressive and unpredictable mind of Herb Brooks makes traditionalists uneasy. The people who don’t know, and who don’t understand, and who might have their own vested interests, criticize Brooks for not being a “team player.” But Minnesota hockey fans know better. They know Brooks, they believe in him, and they know his actions will be more forceful than all the hyperbole in capturing the collective hockey soul of the state.
Sheehy, meanwhile, was a tough, hard-core, uncompromising defenseman at International Falls and Harvard and in the NHL, at places such as Calgary and Washington. He wanted to become a player agent, but only after he completed a law degree. Any athlete who would choose an agent who ISN’T a full-fledged attorney is not what you’d call bright. While studying, and since getting his degree, Sheehy has not only become an astute agent, but he has counseled executives of the NHL Players Association, debated various NHL executives, and has actually straightened out problems that developed as a result of those who don’t understand all the rules as well. Sheehy, the younger brother of Hall of Famer Tim Sheey, has done the same so impressively for USA Hockey’s amateur organization that he would be a shoo-in to take over as executive of that operation, if he wanted it.
Sheehy doesn’t fit Sperling’s criteria as an existing GM or
assistant; but in fact, he’s way beyond that. Furthermore, while he is young,
knowledgeable and aggressive, Sheehy and Brooks get along so well in a
concept of mutual respect that the two would be a
fabulous and imaginative duo.
It would be easy for the Wild to name the Brooks-Sheehy duo, but it also would take a great deal of courage, because it would be breaking the traditional NHL mold of operation — a tradition that has gotten…well, MOLDY.
A new franchise, at the price structure of the end of the 20th century, can be assured full support for the first couple of years regardless, but with the right people in place, those most difficult years could establish a team with a crafty, clever and competitive style, right from the start. Or, it could play it safe and conservative and go with the NHL’s status quo. Will Sperling be content to tell us how “wild” the club intends to make every night, or has he learned enough about Minnesota to back up the words by making a bold, new stand with this bold, new franchise?
My guess is that Jac Sperling is leaning toward signing Bobby Smith as
general manager. Smith aligned himself with the Winnipeg Jets
franchise when Twin Cities millionaire Richard Burke purchased it with the intention of
relocating in Minnesota. When they found that Minneapolis had promised all the revenue streams at Target Center to the financially balked Timberwolves, the Jets moved
on to Phoenix. Bobby Smith is now the general manager of the Coyotes.
Jac Sperling got his law degree from the University of
Virginia, is a member of the Colorado bar, worked to keep the minor league Memphis
Chicks from relocating; tried to negotiate a new stadium for the
Seattle Mariners; tried to negotiate a new stadium for the San Francisco Giants; worked for the ownership group of the NBA Denver Nuggets and the NHL Colorado
Avalanche; worked for the Maryland Stadium Authority to relocate the
Cleveland Browns as the Baltimore Ravens; negotiated to finance the Milwaukee Brewers new stadium; and negotiated for Denver’s planning and building of Coors Field for the Colorado Rockies.
Also in that sparkling resume, Sperling represented Burke’s transformation of the Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix. His connection with the Jets/Coyotes may have brought him together with Bobby Smith, the two-time star centerman of the Minnesota North Stars, who is one of the most impressive
individuals both on the ice and off the NHL’s rinks. Smith also fits all of Sperling’s personally stated criteria as GM, provoking the easy prediction that Smith will be Sperling’s guy.
Stock car racers hope for moments of ‘SUN’
The motorsports season gets serious this weekend, when the big rigs pull into Indianapolis to begin official practice on Saturday for the Indianapolis 500. But, let’s face it, the racing season actually starts in January with some races down south, and lasts until December, with some final drag-races on the West Coast. Leaves just enough room for some snowmobiles, which can race during their own season and truly make motorsports last year-round.
In these parts, the stock car races don’t get started until right about now. Proctor Speedway opened last weekend, and Superior, Grand Rapids and Ashland open this weekend. Superior Speedway programs start at 7:30 p.m., and will run against Grand Rapids on Friday nights. Ashland, and later Hibbing, run against each other on Saturday nights. Proctor, which starts its programs at 6 p.m., holds down the Sunday night slot alone.
“It’s almost like a tour every weekend,” said Chris Sailstad, vice president of Proctor’s operation. “The racers generally race at Superior on Friday, then have to choose between Hibbing or Ashland on Saturday night, then come to Proctor on Sunday night. It’s become such a routine that if you’re on the highway heading toward Hibbing on a Saturday night and you see some black clouds rolling in from the west, you’ll see a mass turnaround, and the guys will haul to Ashland instead, hoping the weather might be better.”
Amazingly, while the tracks share many of the same cars, there is a desperate lack of an official term for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday progression. Here at the Up North Newspaper Network, we’ll call it the “Stock-car Up North” circuit. The “SUN” Circuit has a nice, warm feeling to it, even if the weather forecasts may not.
It was appropriate that Steve Vesel from Hibbing came down to Proctor to win the Late Model opener on Mother’s Day last Sunday, because Hibbing’s track is the last to open. Traditionally, Hibbing waits until after the fishing opener, and this year the fishing opener is late, so it reportedly is the reason Hibbing pushes back a week, which may not be a disadvantage. After all, there is a better chance the SUN Circuit will warm up by the time Hibbing gets running.
WISSOTA RULES
All five Up North tracks are dirt ovals, which means more action, and more horsing the cars around than on paved ovals, which require more precision but universally have less passing and certainly less contact.
Typically, however, every oval track has its own distinct differences and almost take on a personality.
All five tracks also share Wissota rules for their classes, and a preliminary explanation might be in order to assess the similarities, and differences, among the tracks.
First of all, the Late Models are the costliest race cars, and — forget stock car — they are tube-frame race cars with 360 cubic inch V8 limits. The Super Stocks are also tube frame race cars, with narrower tire rules and less-powerful engines. Street Stocks have stock bodies and are much more closely related to stock cars. Modified racers are open-wheel, special built racers. And different tracks have their own varieties of hobby or Pure Stock cars — the entry level for stock car racing.
Those cars all must meet the specifications of Wissota, the governing body with a name that is a conjunction of WISconsin and MinneSOTA. (And you thought Stockcars Up North was a stretch!) Basically, the tracks all run the same cars, with their own specific versions of basic, entry-level stocks.
At Proctor, where season-openers usually see a maximum of 8-10 Late Models, last Sunday’s opener attracted 18 Late Models, 30 Super Stocks, 13 Street Stocks, 16 Modifieds, and 20 Proctor Pure Stocks.
Track configuration also plays into the picture. Ashland and Grand Rapids both are slightly smaller ovals, closer to a quarter-mile than to the full 3/8-mile of Proctor, Superior and Hibbing. Superior seems the biggest, some racers say, because it had wider sweeping turns, while Proctor, for example, has longer straightaways with tighter turns. Hibbing is more circular than the other two.
Expansion and rebanking of the tracks at Grand Rapids and Ashland have evolved to making those tracks almost the full 3/8 around the outside, but they aren’t as long, overall, as the others. Because of that, Ashland and Grand Rapids run full programs without Late Models, which hurts both of them when it comes to attracting the Late Model-inspired fans, but certainly doesn’t limit the enthusiasm of their fans.
OPENING NIGHT
Superior, which doesn’t run the basic pure-stock level, is in the process of adding new lights in Turns 3 and 4, racing against Mother Nature to get them installed before the weekend. The track, located at the Fairgrounds, about a mile and a half south of Superior on Tower Av., usually gets some form of upgrade every year. Last year, it was cement wall around the whole backside of the oval, which went a long way toward keeping cars on the track that might otherwise have disappeared over the edge.
Superior’s season schedule shows a couple of big promotion nights, with Outlaw Sprints racing on June 4, and again on Sept. 10. The track also will be the site of a special Head of the Lakes Fair on July 28-29 (Wednesday and Thursday) pair of shows, with Modified and Super Stocks featured the first night and Late Models and Street Stocks gaining the spotlight the second night. The track will skip Friday that week, and come back Sunday with a demolition derby.
The big finale to the season in Superior will be the Miller Lite Northern Nationals for Outlaw Sprint and Super Stock or Sprint cars on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 10-11.
‘Unbeaten’ Wild must pick GM carefully
The Minnesota Wild will enter the National Hockey League as a new franchise in the fall of the year 2000, which means we all have over a year to figure out whether “Wild” is singular or plural. I mean, do we say “the Wild is,” or “the Wild are…” For now, let’s say the Wild
are, even though they aren’t, yet.
“We don’t lose a game for 17 more months,” said Bill Robertson, the
director of communications for the Wild.
Great line. The team doesn’t drop a puck in its new St. Paul arena
for 17 more months, so why not capitalize on its ongoing “unbeaten”
streak?
Robertson, who grew up in Minnesota and is one of us, was the
Minnesota Timberwolves communications director for the first five
years of their existence, then he took on the same role to help launch
the Anaheim Mighty Ducks NHL franchise. So he comes home with
some serious background in how to guide a pro sports franchise in
Minnesota, and how to help get a fledgling NHL franchise off the
ground.
When the Wild came to Duluth a couple of weeks ago, led by Jac Sperling, the club’s chief
executive officer, and Robertson, Sperling could spare only about five minutes on the telephone. I asked him what he planned to say to the folks in Duluth.
“Whatever they want to hear,” Sperling said. “I mean, we’ll talk about
whatever they want to talk about.”
Freudian slip or not, he was right the first time. At
this point, Sperling can only try to tell hockey folks around the state
what they want to hear. Good cheer, good stuff, positive, and maybe
you want to buy a season ticket. The serious stuff is a general
manager, a decision that must be made soon.
“From the standpoint of being a good judge of hockey talent,
understanding the dealings with player agents and the collective
bargaining rules, the ability to negotiate and deal with other general
managers, working with the media, and being a good team player,
all are important factors in our selection,” Sperling said.
“It’s also important for us to get someone who has acceptance in the
community. Our intention is to find the best person for the job, to get
us to where we need to be both in business and in hockey. I think it
is important that we pick someone for general manager who is
either an existing general manager or assistant general manager in
the league right now.”
Interesting, because if Sperling is making the selection himself, he also can choose any parameters in order to narrow his search, such as “over 6-foot-3,” or “an Aries.” Before the general manager and coach are named, however, let’s speculate on what might be, and could be.
If it were my franchise, I would name Herb Brooks coach and director of player personnel, and I would name Neil Sheehy general manager.
Period.
That would be a bold, new combination that would generate 100
percent pure support, simply because everybody in the state of
Minnesota would know that those two would work their hardest to
achieve the best.
Minnesota sports fans demand a winner in football, baseball
and basketball. In hockey they’d also like a winner. But with the incredible network of grassroots support, where fans watch and cheer for the likes of Shjon Podein, Derek Plante, Jeff Neilson, Darby Hendrickson, Lance Pitlick, Jamie Langenbrunner, and many others as they go from Peewees to high school, then usually to college and maybe to the NHL, fans are much more tolerant in pursuit of victories if there is honest, competitive effort.
Brooks, of course, is Minnesota’s No. 1 hockey icon. He not only
coached the University of Minnesota to three NCAA titles — the
Gophers ONLY three titles — in a six-year span, but he gathered up a
batch of college guys and won the 1980 Olympic gold medal for the
U.S., against Russian, Swedish, Finnish and Czech teams loaded
with players who later would change the face of NHL hockey.
You might remember Brooks later taking Mark Pavelich with him and turning the plodding New York Rangers into a lively, exciting team, which was a lot like turning plowhorses into Kentucky Derby sprinters. He also coached the New Jersey Devils, and spent one injury-filled, franchise-shifting season with the Minnesota North Stars. Brooks’ last coaching assignment was with the French national and Olympic team. Brooks can’t speak any French, but under his guidance, France upset the U.S. in the World Tournament a year ago. In case you missed it, this year’s World Tournament was won by the Czech Republic, while France — with mostly the same players Brooks had — was winless.
Brooks is simply the most clever, creative tactical wizard in the
game, today or any day, and it is a sad testimony to the sport of
hockey that the most brilliant tactician in the game is NOT coaching.
Traditionalists fear the progressive and unpredictable mind of Herb Brooks. The people who don’t understand will criticize Brooks as a rebel. But Minnesota hockey fans know better. They know Brooks, they believe in him, and they know that his presence will mean they won’t be getting ripped off when they plunk down their investment in a ticket.
Sheehy, meanwhile, was a tough, hard-core, uncompromising
defenseman at International Falls and Harvard and in the NHL, at
places such as Calgary and Washington. He wanted to become a
player agent, but only after completing a law degree. Sheehy has not only been an
astute agent, but he has counseled executives of the NHL Players
Association, debated various NHL executives, and has risen so fast
in his dealings with USA Hockey’s amateur organization that he
would be a shoo-in to take over as executive of that operation, if he
wanted it.
Sheehy doesn’t fit Sperling’s criteria as an existing GM or assistant. He’s way beyond that. Furthermore, while he is young, knowledgeable and aggressive, Sheehy commands the respect of every GM in the NHL, and gets along so well in a concept of mutual respect with Brooks that the two would be a fabulous and imaginative duo.
But all of that would only work if the Minnesota Wild has the courage to make a bold, new stand with their bold, new franchise. The alternative is to play it safe and conservative, going with a staff recycled from among the NHL’s status quo. In that case, however, the Wild had better be prepared for a far less-patient, win-or-else response from the fans.
My guess is that Jac Sperling plans on trying to sign Bobby Smith as
general manager. Smith aligned himself with the Winnipeg Jets
franchise when it was purchased and moved. The Jets had the intention of
relocating in Minnesota, but the Timberwolves had all the revenue
streams at Target Center so tied up there was no opportunity for an
NHL club to even hope to break even. So the Jets moved
on to Phoenix to become the Coyotes, and Bobby Smith is now their
“existing” general manager.
Jac Sperling, meanwhile, got his law degree from the University of
Virginia, and is a member of the Colorado bar. He worked for the
city of Memphis in its effort to keep the minor league Memphis
Chicks from relocating; for several ski areas and tourism industry
groups; for a group that tried to negotiate for a new stadium for the
Seattle Mariners; for the Port Authority of San Francisco in its
negotiations for a new stadium for the baseball Giants; for the
ownership group of the NBA Denver Nuggets and the NHL Colorado
Avalanche; for the Maryland Stadium Authority in its relocation of the
Cleveland Browns transformation to the Baltimore Ravens; for
negotiations to finance the Milwaukee Brewers new stadium; and for
Denver’s group in the planning and building of Coors Field for the
Colorado Rockies.
Sperling also represented Richard Burke’s ownership group that bought the Jets and settled in Phoenix. That is where he would have come into close contact with Bobby Smith, the two-time star
centerman of the North Stars, who is one of the most impressive individuals both on the ice and off the NHL’s rinks, and, presumably, in the front office.
That connection may mean nothing more than happenstance. But Smith also fits all of
Sperling’s self-proclaimed criteria, including current status as a GM.
Racing opener heats up chilly night in Superior
Ah, early-season auto racing Up North.
If a first-time visitor had any questions about the risks of running a race show in May, those questions all were answered at Superior Speedway’s season-opener last Friday night. It didn’t matter which of the other Up North tracks got rained out, or hadn’t started yet. There was a break in the week of otherwise-constant rain and wind, which was enough motivation for a couple thousand race fans to show up early to pay $8 for a seat in the grandstand on a bright, clear evening with a beautiful sunset.
The races were good. Very good. It will be the same at Proctor, Hibbing, Ashland and Grand Rapids, but this was Superior’s night. In the time-honored tradition of short-track racing, the heats were of varying degrees of exciting in Street Stock, Super Stock, Modified, and Late Model, and they served to provide the basis for the fans to pick out their favorite cars — still basically unbent, because this was the opener — for the upcoming features.
The long intermission, with a heavy-duty construction grader and a guy on a Farmall tractor grooming the track, provided plenty of time for conjecture about who was best, and for everybody to make a couple passes at the concession stand. And the feature races in all classes were nothing short of spectacular.
Never mind that the wind was still whistling in off Lake Superior, and the temperature, which didn’t seem to match the intensity that the sunshine promised at the start, dropped enough so you could see your breath by feature time. Put on a jacket, but bring warmer clothes, just in case. Then you could make a couple trips to the car during the night and replenish your insulation. In the end, a turtleneck under a sweatshirt, covered by a fleece-lined nylon jacket, and with a pullover windbreaker over all of that, a hat pulled down to your ears, and hiking boots under the cuffs of your jeans, was just about right. Gloves, though, would have been a nice addition.
Still, the fans didn’t seem bothered by the harshness. They were warmed up by the corndogs, pizza, popcorn and coffee…lots of coffee…from the concession stands.
That’s the great thing about folks Up North: You do what you want to do, and if the weather isn’t perfect, you do it anyway.
The races themselves were the primary source of heating up the night. The cars looked good, in all four classes. They will look less good as body panels get bent up during the season, and it may be tougher to see the printing “Thanks mom & dad, and Jack N Edna’s Bar” on the heat-winning modified, but it’s a strong, competitive crop.
The Late Models, the fastest and most attractive, had a couple interesting heats. In the first heat, there were three No. 1 cars. Makes it easier to pick a favorite. Just take No. 1. Near the end, the top four cars were, by number, 1-1-44-1 up front. In the second heat, there was only one No. 1, but there were two No. 3 cars.
In some forms of racing, the champion in a class one year gets the honor of having No. 1 the next. The governing Wissota rules somehow don’t seem to care how many duplicate numbers there are. Maybe they could all be No. 1, and then put their “real” number in smaller print, next to it. Instead, they put a little letter next to the number. So in the second heat, 3D was the winner, beating 3W in a strong performance by teammates in Dean Johnson Chevrolets.
Donnie Copp, a phenom in Modified racing up through last season, is in 3D (Donnie being the reason for the “D”), while Pete Wohlers is in 3W. Copp ran as if he were still in a lightweight Mod, flying past cars and running up the banking in Turn 1 as if heading into the wall, then cocking the car into an abrupt angle to ride the highside of the turn. As other cars ducked low to repass Copp, he would come flying down off the banking and zoom back ahead on the backstretch. That procedure worked all race, although Wohlers worked up through traffic to finish second.
After regrooming the track surface to eliminate the bigger holes and bumps, race officials decided to run the costliest Late Models first in the round of 15-lap features, a rare departure from the norm. In the feature, all four No. 1 cars were poised, with two of them in the front row. The announcer explained who was on the pole, then awarded someone the honor of “outside pole,” even though the pole can only be the inside of the front row.
Didn’t matter, though, because Wohlers, from Hermantown, shot past everybody at the start, plowing high in the turns, and launching off the banking for straightaway shots that made his 3W look like it was in the wrong class. He led by the length ofthe straightaway after five laps, and dominated to win with that spectacular style.
Super Stocks, which must be at least 2,800 pounds compared to the swifter Late Models’ 2,300, had No. 2 Brady Smith of Solon Springs and No. 2 of Randy Silverness from Superior running nose to tail. It was a great duel, with Silverness running the outside groove and holding the narrowest of leads as the two sped away from the rest of the competitors. On the final laps, they were closing in on tail-end traffic, and as Silverness set up high and came off Turn 4, he had to let off the power for an instant to avoid a slower car. In that instant, Smith cut inside and zipped past to grab the victory.
The Modified feature even had a dose of racing luck decide the outcome, as Duluth’s Eddie Wakefield led Kelly Estey of Kelly Lake from the start. Wakefield, also finding success running high, kept leaving the inside open for Estey to challenge. The inside groove on the 3/8-mile oval is far shorter than the outside, but if you go into either end low, you can’t come out as fast as the high-runners, who can get on the power sooner and come off the banking with more momentum.
Lap after lap, Estey tried the inside, sticking his nose ahead a few times, but never able to hold it on the straights. Halfway through, though, Estey made his inside pass hold up. Then it was Wakefield’s turn to try the inside, and with three laps to go, Wakefield got ahead and held a slim margin as the two strained for position all the way around the track.
Coming out of Turn 4, however, they were greeted with a yellow caution light because a car had stalled on the straightaway. The rules say the order reverts to the last completed lap on a yellow, so Estey was placed back in front for the single-file restart. Wakefield gave it his best shot on the final two laps, but Estey held on for the victory.
The Street Stocks, usually the preliminary, ran last on that opening night show, but they, too, put on a classic. Kelly Checkalski of South Range led until the last turn of the last lap, then Scott Lawrence of Superior snuck by to snatch the victory.
The risk of running the Late Models first meant that the fans could take off for the warm shelter of their cars before the finale, but hardly anybody left. Only those for whom the hot dogs, coffee, turtlenecks, sweatshirts and windbreakers weren’t quite enough. The hardiest fans stayed to the finish, knowing that the chill from that lake breeze was only a temporary harshness; nothing, really, compared to the benefits from Up North racing in May.
About the Author
John Gilbert is a lifetime Minnesotan and career journalist, specializing in cars and sports during and since spending 30 years at the Minneapolis Tribune, now the Star Tribune. More recently, he has continued translating the high-tech world of autos and sharing his passionate insights as a freelance writer/photographer/broadcaster. A member of the prestigious North American Car and Truck of the Year jury since 1993. John can be heard Monday-Friday from 9-11am on 610 KDAL(www.kdal610.com) on the "John Gilbert Show," and writes a column in the Duluth Reader.
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